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Cliff-Zone Families
14,285
Total Wage Suppression
$10.4M
State Avg Cliff Zone
13.7%
The benefits cliff — sometimes called the welfare cliff or cliff effect — occurs when families lose public benefits faster than they can replace them through increased earnings. In Alaska, an estimated 14,285 families across 30 counties earn between 100–200% of the Federal Poverty Level, where benefits like SNAP, Medicaid, childcare subsidies, and housing assistance phase out. The CLIFF Index measures this exposure at the county level, including peak marginal effective tax rates, wage suppression estimates, and advancement thresholds. Click any county below for the full diagnostic report.
| CountyCounty↕ | PopulationPopulation↕ | Cliff Zone %Cliff Zone %↕ | Families AffectedFamilies↓ | Wage SuppressionWage Gap↕ | Peak METRPeak METR↕ |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Anchorage Municipality | 288,976 | 12.4% | 5,311 | $3.9M | 389% |
| Matanuska-Susitna Borough | 112,988 | 12.8% | 2,059 | $1.5M | 312% |
| Fairbanks North Star Borough | 95,460 | 13.2% | 1,938 | $1.4M | 402% |
| Kenai Peninsula Borough | 60,413 | 12.8% | 928 | $676K | 293% |
| Bethel Census Area | 18,394 | 24.8% | 626 | $456K | 480% |
| Kodiak Island Borough | 12,771 | 14.5% | 387 | $282K | 511% |
| Nome Census Area | 9,866 | 27.2% | 383 | $279K | 360% |
| Kusilvak Census Area | 8,176 | 31.4% | 340 | $248K | 209% |
| Juneau City and Borough | 31,794 | 8.7% | 323 | $235K | 427% |
| Northwest Arctic Borough | 7,441 | 25.2% | 250 | $182K | 478% |
| Ketchikan Gateway Borough | 13,768 | 12.5% | 219 | $159K | 387% |
| Yukon-Koyukuk Census Area | 5,195 | 23.8% | 205 | $149K | 237% |
| Prince of Wales-Hyder Census Area | 5,715 | 22.3% | 189 | $138K | 246% |
| North Slope Borough | 10,810 | 12.5% | 177 | $129K | 387% |
| Southeast Fairbanks Census Area | 7,068 | 19.6% | 172 | $125K | 294% |
| Dillingham Census Area | 4,724 | 25.6% | 149 | $108K | 274% |
| Chugach Census Area | 6,862 | 13.2% | 136 | $99K | 351% |
| Aleutians East Borough | 3,491 | 21.0% | 103 | $75K | 315% |
| Copper River Census Area | 2,626 | 24.7% | 74 | $54K | 239% |
| Sitka City and Borough | 8,368 | 9.2% | 65 | $47K | 369% |
| Petersburg Borough | 3,409 | 15.1% | 51 | $37K | 339% |
| Lake and Peninsula Borough | 1,013 | 26.3% | 42 | $31K | 209% |
| Hoonah-Angoon Census Area | 2,311 | 16.5% | 40 | $29K | 338% |
| Wrangell City and Borough | 2,088 | 17.8% | 37 | $27K | 265% |
| Aleutians West Census Area | 5,235 | 10.6% | 21 | $15K | 538% |
| Yakutat City and Borough | 527 | 20.1% | 18 | $13K | 316% |
| Haines Borough | 2,086 | 10.5% | 16 | $12K | 296% |
| Bristol Bay Borough | 918 | 11.4% | 14 | $10K | 273% |
| Denali Borough | 1,969 | 6.2% | 7 | $5K | 256% |
| Skagway Municipality | 1,244 | 9.3% | 5 | $4K | 393% |
30 of 30 counties shown. Click any county for full diagnostic.